Lucknow Calling: When Your Wi-Fi is as Unreliable as Your Life Choices
just another day in the life of a digital nomad, right? woke up to the sound of someone yelling at their scooter outside my window, which is pretty much the universal alarm clock for most places in asia. checked my phone - it's 28.93 degrees celsius out there, feels like 28.07 if you're the kind who believes in meteorology's lies. humidity is at 34%, which means my hair is probably doing that weird frizz thing again. perfect. just perfect.
lucknow, man. what can i say about this place? it's like someone took a time machine to the 19th century and then accidentally spilled chai all over it. the architecture is stunning if you can ignore the fact that half of it's covered in political posters. and the food? oh god, the food. someone told me that the best kebabs in india are sold from a tiny stall that opens at 3am and closes when the vendor feels like it. haven't found it yet, but i'm on the case.
if you get bored with all the historical nonsense, kanpur and allahabad are just a short train ride away. not that i've been to either, because trains in india are basically russian roulette with your comfort level.
i just checked and it's...basically a sauna outside right now, hope you like that kind of thing. the air conditioning in my "budget" hotel is basically a fan that's been given a fancy name. at least the pressure is a healthy 1011 hpa, which i'm pretty sure means the apocalypse isn't coming today.
heard through the digital nomad grapevine that there's this cafe called "the lucknow lounge" that supposedly has decent wifi and actual tables that don't wobble. haven't confirmed it yet, but https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g297631-d12345679-Lucknow_Lounge-Lucknow.html has good ratings according to one of those travel sites that clearly never actually visited the places they review.
lucknow's got this whole nawabi vibe going on, which is a fancy way of saying rich people used to live here and liked to wear fancy clothes. now it's mostly traffic and auto-rickshaw drivers who think i'm made of money.
someone told me that the secret to navigating lucknow is to always have a chai break before making any important decisions. which is basically just an excuse to drink more chai, so i'm all for it. the https://www.yelp.com/biz/tea-house-of-lucknow-lucknow sounds like my kind of joint, even if it's probably just a tourist trap.
okay, my laptop battery's at 17% and the power just flickered, so i'm gonna sign off before i lose all my brilliant thoughts. more updates from the road soon, assuming i survive the heat and the questionable street food.
peace out, nomads.
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